Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2
Boeing 377-10-30 Stratocruiser · Crew error, water ditching
From Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to New York City
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 33
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 2
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 377-10-30 Stratocruiser
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 377
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N74608
- Operator
- Northwest Orient Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)To New York City
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 was a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser aircraft that was ditched into Puget Sound, just off Maury Island at the Point Robinson Light, shortly after takeoff from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on the morning of Monday, April 2, 1956.
The plane flew over Normandy Park heading southwest. All of those aboard survived the ditching and escaped the aircraft before it sank, but four passengers and one flight attendant subsequently died.
Incident
Flight 2 departed Sea-Tac at 08:06 PST on runway 20 (since removed), and its itinerary was south to Portland, then east to Chicago and New York City. The takeoff was uneventful until the first officer (Gene Paul Johnson) retracted the wing flaps; the aircraft suddenly began to buffet violently and also began a roll to the left. The captain (Robert Reeve Heard) believed that an asymmetric wing flap condition—when one set of flaps retract, but the other wing's set of flaps remain extended—had developed and made numerous attempts to control the aircraft, but to no avail.
Believing the aircraft unairworthy, he considered returning to Sea-Tac or diverting to McChord Air Force Base south of Tacoma, but the buffeting worsened and the Stratocruiser began to lose altitude. They decided their best chance was to ditch in the relatively shallow and (on that day) calm waters of Puget Sound. The first officer's Mayday transmission relaying the intention to ditch was heard by the captain of a Coast Guard vessel and the pilot of an Air Force amphibious Grumman Albatross aircraft; both readied to assist the stricken aircraft.
The captain brought the aircraft down smoothly at 08:10, 4.7 nmi southwest of the departure runway. Although it took on water quickly, the passenger cabin remained in one piece, and all of those on board were able to depart safely, most using their seat cushions as makeshift flotation devices.
Ten minutes after the ditching, the Air Force Grumman landed in the water nearby and launched a number of inflatable liferafts, but not all passengers and crew were able to reach them; many remained in the 42 F water of Puget Sound, hanging onto their seat cushions until they were rescued less than thirty minutes later by the Coast Guard vessel. Four passengers, including a six-year-old boy and his mother, and one male flight attendant were not recovered, thought to have succumbed to hypothermia. The Stratocruiser sank fifteen minutes after the ditching in approximately 430 ft of water.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Investigators with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) determined that the underlying cause of the accident was a single error made by the flight engineer (Vernon Thomsen). Stratocruiser engines were cooled by opening panels called "cowl flaps" or "engine cooling flaps" (also called "cowl gills") which circled the rear part of the engine and allowed heat to dissipate when open. The open cowl flaps could also disrupt the flow of air over the wings and it was therefore necessary to close them during critical phases of flight such as takeoff when maximum lift was needed. When the captain during his pre-takeoff checklist called, "Cowl flaps set for takeoff," the flight engineer replied "Set for takeoff," but had not actually closed them. When the aircraft took off and the wing flaps were retracted, the loss of lift caused by the open engine cowl flaps caused the aircraft wings to partially stall.
Tests performed by CAB investigators showed that a Stratocruiser that took off with all cowl flaps open responded very similarly to a one-engine shut down; the aircraft could be turned and flown for some time before becoming too unstable to remain aloft. However, the captain was convinced that the problem had been caused by asymmetric wing flaps, a situation that would make all but the slightest turn dangerous, and decided to maintain the southwest heading and ditch, based on that analysis.
The CAB found that the captain had incorrectly identified the cause of the aircraft's control and stability problems, but that it was extremely difficult if not impossible for him to have correctly identified the problem given the information available, the nature of the emergency he was faced with, and the time in which he had to make the decision as to whether to ditch or to attempt a landing at McChord AFB or back at Sea-Tac.
The flight engineer was qualified on three different aircraft, but spent most of his time in the other two types (L-1049, DC-6). In the previous ninety days, he had less than two hours in a B-377, during a requalification check two weeks prior. The cockpit cowl flap controls on the B-377 and L-1049 moved in opposite directions for the closing of cowl flaps. At the hearing, the flight engineer testified that it was possible he had moved these controls in the wrong direction prior to takeoff, thus leaving the flaps in their already open position.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2” (revision 1339299194, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2
- Revision
- 1339299194 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7060140
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2" (page 7621620, revision 1339299194)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.